Package for solid pieces of foodstuffs or the like and method for manufacturing such packages

ABSTRACT

A package characterized in that it has a substantially rectangular bottom having only at two opposite ends an upstanding wall part, said wall parts having along their outer periphery in the zones where these wall parts are not connected to the bottom part, a flange, the generating lines of which flanges are parallel to the main surface of the bottom part and that to the flanges of the upstanding wall parts a separate closing cover of a sheet of easily printable material such as hard paper or thin white cardboard is applied which extends along the entire periphery of the upstanding wall parts with the exception of the bottom part and has generating lines also parallel to the bottom part. This makes it possible to use a simple closing cover from a flat sheet, for instance of paper or thin white cardboard, which can easily be printed and given an attractive appearance and the foodstuffs can be displayed for sale in the package in such a way that substantially only the closing cover is visible.

United States Patent Inventors Steven Duerink l4, Mussenstraat, Uden;

Leendert Steinvoort, 9, Prof. Regoutstraat, Best, Netherlands Mar. 19, 1969 May 25, 1971 Mar. 20, 1968 Netherlands Appl. No. Filed Patented Priority References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/ 1953 Conti 206/45.74(X) Primary Examiner-Davis T. Moorhead Attorney- Bucknam and Archer ABSTRACT: A package characterized in that it has a substantially rectangular bottom having only at two opposite ends an upstanding wall part, said wall parts having along their outer periphery in the zones where these wall parts are not connected to the bottom part, a flange, the generating lines of which flanges are parallel to the main surface of the bottom part and that to the flanges of the upstanding wall parts a separate closing cover of a sheet of easily printable material such as hard paper or thin white cardboard is applied which extends along the entire periphery of the upstanding wall parts with the exception of the bottom part and has generating lines also parallel to the bottom part. This makes it possible to use a simple closing cover from a flat sheet, for instance of paper or thin white cardboard, which can easily be printed and given an attractive appearance and the foodstufis can be displayed for sale in the package in such a way that substantially only the closing cover is visible.

PACKAGE FOR SOLID PIECES OF FOODSTUFFS OR THE LIKE AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING SUCH PACKAGES This invention relates to a package for solid pieces of foodstuffs or the like and to a method for manufacturing such packages.

Often the need is felt to package solid pieces of foodstuffs, for instance of chocolate, which do not always have exactly the same dimensions and in which the package has to be strong, cheap and simple in manufacture, should have an aesthetic appearance and should be adapted to be printed, for instance for indicating trade names etc. It is known and usual to use for such packages thin and semiresilient material such as very thin but rather hard plastic foil, but this material is mostly not very attractive for the outer appearance of the package and not or hardly suited to be printed. On the other hand such plastic foil material is cheap and can easily be given the desired shape by deep drawing.

The present invention aims at obtaining a package of the kind given above, taking the above considerations into account and fulfilling the given requirements.

Preferably the invention is realized in such a way that the upstanding wall parts constitute a whole with the bottom part and protrude in a somewhat mutually diverging manner from the protrude in a somewhat mutually diverging manner from the bottom part outwardly, the said flanges being directed outwardly from the upstanding wall parts with respect to the bottom part. This makes it possible to make the upstanding integral wall and bottom parts from one single plastic sheet instead of having to make them from separate parts and'to connect the upstanding wall parts to the bottom part thereafter.

Moreover a package according to the invention has the important advantage that it can be manufactured in such a way that the greater part of the foil does not or almost not have to I be deformed by deep drawing, so that a bottom part is obtained which has not been subjected to considerable stresses, only the upstanding wall parts having been stressed considerably during the deep drawing. In connection with this the invention also relates to a method for manufacturing such packages, which according to the invention are characterized in that a flat plastic foil is deep drawn substantially from the plane which constitutes the bottom part of the package so that each time two upstanding wall parts of two adjacent packages are manufactures simultaneously, connected by foil parts which form the said flanges.

This invention will now be explained by way of example with reference to the attached drawings. In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a package according to the invention in a preferred embodiment;

FIG. la is a part of a longitudinal section in the same direction as FIG. 1 through a somewhat different embodiment of the package.

FIG. 2 is a transverse section through the package of FIGS. 1 and 1a.

FIG. 3 shows in section part of a plastic foil sheet after deep drawing for manufacturing parts of packages according to this invention, the section of FIG. 3 being made in the same direction as FIG. I, but showing the foil sheet intended for yielding a package as shown in FIG. Ia.

FIG. 4 gives the same plastic foil as FIG. 3, but sectioned and seen in the same plane as FIG. 2, after deep drawing.

For adequately describing the package and its method of manufacture we shall first refer to FIGS. 3 and 4. A plastic foil sheet, for instance from hard polyvinylchloride, of chocolate brown color and of the same type as used very often for packaging chocolate sweets and the like nowadays, is deep drawn, so that this foil, first, in plane condition positioned about at the height of the line 1 or somewhat higher, obtained a shape as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Thus somewhat cupshaped depressed bottom parts 2 are obtained, with end wall parts 3 and 5 between them, having a semioval form and being mutually connected by connecting parts 4. The bottom parts 2 are in the transverse direction as shownin FIG. 4 by longitudinal transition depressions 14.

By cutting off everything which protrudes below a horizontal plane indicated by 6 the deep drawn plastic foil is severed into separate parts. Thus somewhat troughlike bodies are obtained with open sides and with downwardly directed flanges 7 along the longitudinal sides. The connecting parts 4 of FIG. 3 form flanges, the generating lines of which extend parallel to the main plane and to the longitudinal direction of the bottom.

part 2.

The flanges 4 and 7 merge into one another.

A piece of printed paper or thin and flexible white cardboard or the like is indicated by 8 in FIGS. 1, 1a and 2 and is, for instance by heating the plastic foil at some pressure, sealed tothe flanges 7 and 4. This is possible in known manner by pressing the part 8 locally against such a flange 4 or 7 and then to generate locally in a narrow zone so much heat that the plastic becomes soft and tacky and thus bonds to the paper or cardboard.

From a deep drawn foil according to FIG. 2 a package according to FIG. 1a is obtained. It is also possible to omit the depressed parts 5 and to have the flanges 4 extend immediately without interruption between adjacent upstanding walls'3 and then to sever the foil in a vertical plane, as is given by interrupted lines in FIG. 3. In this way a package according to FIG. 1 is obtained. The embodiment described above and shown in FIGS. la and 3 is, however, preferred because this makes it possible to sever in a horizontal plane only and not also in a vertical plane. By cutting in this horizontal plane 6 the somewhat rounded transitions 14 are also cut off, so that substantially plane flanges 7 remain, onto which the cover 8 can lie and be. sealed in an adequate manner, without disagreeably protruding bottom edge parts.

In FIGS. 1 and 2 it has been shown how a piece of a solid foodstuff or the like 9 can be taken up between the deep drawn plastic foil and the part 8.

In one of the two flanges 7 or in both flanges a recess 10 could be cut and the closing cover 8 could have, associated therewith, a tear strip or two parallel weakened lines, so that it is possible to grip the cardboard or paper of the cover 8 at. the recess 10 in the flange 7 and to open the package by tearing away this paper or cardboard as a narrow strip between said weakened lines to get access to the interior of the package.

If desired, it is possible to apply to paper or cardboard 8 in long strips over long parts of the plastic foil in the shape of FIG. 3, covering more than one piece of foodstuff, in longitudinal direction thereof, but only one in the transverse direction. It is also possible to give this paper or cardboard corrugations to apply one sheet thereof over a number of packages lying side-by-side and still united in the manner as shown in FIG. 4, and it will be clear that the cutting and severing of the plastic foil could take place either before or after the application of the paper or cardboard of the cover 8. If the paper or cardboard is applied over -a larger number of packages side-by-side as shown in FIG. 4 a single cutting operation suffices for severing both the plastic foil and the paper or cardboard. It is also possible to leave a number of such packages united to one another and not to sever them before sale, so that it is possible to buy a number of solidfoodstuff bodies such as pieces of chocolate united in one package, the user being able to open the covers 8 one-by-one and to leave the plastics foil intact or to cut or tear parts therefrom at will.

lclaim:

l. A package for solid foodstuffs and the like comprising a plastic member, said member having a rectangular bottom, an upstanding wall extending from said bottom at two opposite ends of said bottom, said other two opposite ends of said bottom being free of any upstanding walls, said upstanding wallshaving a generally arcuate configuration, each of said walls having a flange at the peripheral edge thereof, said flange being generally parallel to said bottom, a closing cover of easily printable material secured to said flanges, said closing cover being generally parallel to said flanges and to said bottom, said closing cover being secured to the entire periphery of said flanges and to said other two opposite ends of said bottom to thereby form a closed package.

2. A package according to claim 1 wherein said other two opposite ends of said bottom are provided with downwardly depending flanges towhich said cover is secured.

3. A package according to claim 1 wherein said upstanding walls diverge from one another in extending upwardly and outwardly from said bottom, said flanges extending outwardly away from the package.

4. A package according to claim 1 wherein the peripheral walls of each of said upstanding walls is generally oval-shaped.

5. A package according to claim 1 wherein the peripheral walls of each of said upstanding walls is in the form of a semicircle.

'6. A package according to claim 1 wherein said member is deep-drawn from a plastic sheet.

7. A package according toclaim 1 wherein said cover is made of paper.

8. A package according to claim 1 wherein said bottom I d member has cup-shaped depressions between said upstanding walls.

9. A package according to claim 1 further comprising a generally flat element extending from the edge of said flanges whereby each such' flat element and adjacent upstanding wall define a double wall.

10. A multipackage comprising a first package as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising a second package identical to said first package, said first and second packages being integrally joined to one another. l

11. A method of manufacturing a package according to claim 1, characterized in that a first plastic foil is deep drawn substantially from the plane which constitutes the bottom part of the package so that each time two upstanding wall parts of two adjacent packages are manufactured simultaneously, connected by foil parts which form the said flanges. 

1. A package for solid foodstuffs and the like comprising a plastic member, said member having a rectangular bottom, an upstanding wall extending from said bottom at two opposite ends of said bottom, said other two opposite ends of said bottom being free of any upstanding walls, said upstanding walls having a generally arcuate configuration, each of said walls having a flange at the peripheral edge thereof, said flange being generally parallel to said bottom, a closing cover of easily printable material secured to said flanges, said closing cover being generally parallel to said flanges and to said bottom, said closing cover being secured to the entire periphery of said flanges and to said other two opposite ends of said bottom to thereby form a closed package.
 2. A package according to claim 1 wherein said other two opposite ends of said bottom are provided with downwardly depending flanges to which said cover is secured.
 3. A package according to claim 1 wherein said upstanding walls diverge from one another in extending upwardly and outwardly from said bottom, said flanges extending outwardly away from the package.
 4. A package according to claim 1 wherein the peripheral walls of each of said upstanding walls is generally oval-shaped.
 5. A package according to claim 1 wherein the peripheral walls of each of said upstanding walls is in the form of a semicircle.
 6. A package according to claim 1 wherein said member is deep-drawn from a plastic sheet.
 7. A package according to claim 1 wherein said cover is made of paper.
 8. A package according to claim 1 wherein said bottom member has cup-shaped depressions between said upstanding walls.
 9. A package according to claim 1 further comprising a generally flat element extending from the edge of said flanges whereby each such flat element and adjacent upstanding wall define a double wall.
 10. A multipackage comprising a first package as set forth in claim 1 and further comprising a second package identical to said first package, said first and second packages being integrally joined to one another.
 11. A method of manufacturing a package according to claim 1, characterized in that a first plastic foil is deep drawn substantially from the plane which constitutes the bottom part of the package so that each time two upstanding wall parts of two adjacent packages are manufactured simultaneously, connected by foil parts which form the said flanges. 